USN&WR - DHS Seeks Sanctions on Countries that Refuse Deportees

Alan Neuhauser at U.S. News & World Report (" a multi-platform publisher of news and information") did a nice job of laying this out:

Money quote(s):

"immigration authorities have been forced to release people who are in the U.S. illegally because their home countries declined to issue the necessary travel documents for their return"

CAA commented on another article that was more specific but this one does a better job explaining the whys and hows.

"Lapan would not identify which nations are facing sanctions, but they are among a list of 12 so-called "recalcitrant countries" identified by DHS: Burma, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Guinea, Hong Kong, Iran, Laos, Morocco, South Sudan and Vietnam.

The letter from DHS could effectively suspend travel to the U.S. from the four designated countries. Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires the State Department to stop granting travel visas in recalcitrant countries when it such a request to do so from the Homeland Security secretary."

CAA gathers there's quite a bit of back and forth between DOS and DHS as to precisely how each country's visa sanction will shape-up in practice, tailoring it to the circumstances.

"Countries can get removed from the list if they cooperate with U.S. efforts. Iraq, for example, was on a list of some 22 countries considered recalcitrant, but it was removed after high-level government negotiations led to an agreement to again begin accepting deported nationals, Lapan said."

It's unfortunate when you have to use a club like this to leverage another country into action, but if you get a record and a reputation for doing it from time to time, simply the threat will come to suffice as a motivator.  Inaction on the part of these countries was a product of their years of experience in us not acting.